


A Day's Worth of Time

by jongincident



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:49:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23314912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongincident/pseuds/jongincident
Summary: How do two people in love spend their day?
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	A Day's Worth of Time

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this way back in 2016 and realized I never posted it on AO3. Forgive me for grammatical mistakes.

A Day’s Worth of Time

5:00 am - 

The door slowly creaks open and a slim figure slips under the warm covers, carefully so as to not disturb the sleeper. The former figure’s whole body is trembling and his shoulders are hunched, but he covers his mouth with his hand and suppresses the sobs that are adamant at escaping his mouth. He wants to blend in with the shadows, hide in the darkness because no amount of light would ever be able to penetrate the gloom he’s submerged in. 

6:00 am - 

All is soundless, the calming silence in which the only stirring are the fading dreams that occupy their minds when reality is no longer a considering factor in validity. The curtains are still drawn, covering the inky sky where tinges of light orange are painted near the horizon, but is still scattered with twinkling white diamonds. 

Jongin’s strong arm is still draped over Kyungsoo’s petite body in a protective manner to shield away the evils of the night, to claim Kyungsoo as his own. Kyungsoo’s small frame fits right into Jongin’s lean physique, like pieces of a puzzle, but not jaggedly so—the curves in their backs, Jongin’s breath warming Kyungsoo’s nape, their entangled feet, and ruffled hair are all natural. 

7:00 am - 

The temporary stillness is broken, first by sound, and then by sight. The chirping of a bird is sweeter than ever after the fowl’s night of resting. The first few rays of the morning sun peak through the slim crack of the curtains and cast its spotlight on their peaceful faces. 

The rectangular contraption sitting on their nightstand ruins the serene atmosphere when it emits a series of beeping. So horrifying were these beeps that the taller of the two finally realizes that the painful blaring isn’t Time sounding its final warning bell, but is merely the device that rouses him from his hibernation daily, and that he has a day and a life ahead of him, and the Awakener only wants a change in his monotonous schedule. 

He pulls his reluctant arm from under the covers and silences the beeping. Closed eyes become half-lidded, steady breathing change to slow and wide yawns, prostrate bodies metamorph into sitting slouches. 

Kyungsoo on the other hand, isn’t so careless toward his appearance. He sits straight up, his eyes display the characteristic eye-whites, and he mutters a “good morning” before scooting off the bedside. Before he can place both of his narrow, bare feet on the laminate flooring, a hand pulls him back into the rumpled bed sheets. 

“You’re not going anywhere just yet.” Jongin’s croaky morning voice drawls into Kyungsoo’s ear. 

Jongin’s grasp is firm, his large hands completely wrapping around Kyungsoo’s frail wrists. However Kyungsoo is recalcitrant; he has his ways of achieving what he wants, especially when with Jongin. Beguiling is second-nature to him in a relationship. He complies to Jongin’s request, turns his body to come face-to-face with the taller, and turns the golden sex god into an ingenuous puppy by a mere brush on the lips and a “good morning, love.”

Jongin’s eyes are still closed and his visage is still blissful when Kyungsoo slips out of bed, this time without any further complications. To Jongin’s irritation, the first thing Kyungsoo does is pull open the curtains and fill the room with the blinding light emitted by the morning sun. Kyungsoo likes the sun—the symbol of time, of a new day, of new hopes and possibilities that could be forever life-changing. 

8:00 am - 

Jongin searches Kyungsoo’s eyes, not exactly trying to find anything in particular, but because he enjoys the feeling of being a star lost in a vast galaxy when he looks into those dark irises. Kyungsoo puts his hand on Jongin's shoulder, passing a silent message of reassurance.

“See you in the afternoon,” Jongin mutters quietly.

Kyungsoo lowers his head, because he knows he will never leave if Jongin keeps staring at him like that.

“Bye Jongin.” Kyungsoo turns around to finally depart—because his bus will arrive in any minute—but Jongin grasps his arm for the second time that day.

“Wait!”

Jongin pulls Kyungsoo back and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

“Just in case,” he says.

“Just in case what?”

“Just in case we don’t see each other again.”

“Don’t be so inane,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “We see each other everyday, whether I like it or not.”

Kyungsoo looks at his watch and gasps in exasperation. He cannot afford to be late again. He waves goodbye and takes off before Jongin can say another word, leaving the younger standing alone and watching Kyungsoo’s form become smaller and smaller.

Jongin’s shoulders slump. Oh well, he’ll see Kyungsoo after school.

9:00 am - 

Kyungsoo is late. Again. He rushes to his cubicle, his hair messed up from sprinting all the way from the bus stop, and he finds his boss looming over his short stature.

“I can explain!”

Kyungsoo’s boss silences him and points at the large stack of papers piled on Kyungsoo’s desk and criticizes Kyungsoo’s poor life choices. Kyungsoo ignores the blatant peremptory remarks because the only thing in his mind is the personification of perfection, a certain Kim Jongin. 

Jongin. Jongin. Finish this assignment and get back to Jongin before dinner.

-

The white chalk scrawls on the blackboard blur together, the droning of the professor is barely audible, and the textbook in front of him is meaningless. The lecture on the gruesome Battle at Antietam barely registers in Jongin’s mind. His thoughts are occupied by Do Kyungsoo, the most diligent angel with a hint of Satan himself.

He doesn’t notice that the professor is glaring right at him, let alone hear his professor repeatedly calling his name in a dictatorial manner to answer the insightful question just posed. Jongin finally realizes that the professor wants his attention when he hears three loud raps on his desk, and glances up to find the professor grasping a yardstick with an infuriated countenance.

Jongin immediately corrects his posture, straightening his back and placing his folded hands on his desk. Today will be a long, tedious day…

10:00 am -

The clock’s measurement of one second seems much longer than Kyungsoo’s perception. To Kyungsoo, he finds the man-made way of measuring passing time completely ridiculous; it just so happened that one ancient European scientist had the most functional system, and everyone just went along with it. If Kyungsoo had invented time, he would have made each second much quicker and a workday much shorter. Unfortunately, he is only a middle-class worker with only a few months of experience, and doesn’t have the flexible schedules of the high-ranked employees.

The analog clock taunts Kyungsoo’s miserable existence with its sonorous ticking, leaving Kyungsoo so frustrated that he proceeds to remove the Time-keeper’s source of energy and shove its lifeless body into the musty cabinet prison.

-

The bustling hallways of a university building are a complete contrast to the eerily silent aisles in the library. While the other students come to the library for studying, checking out textbooks, or simply searching for something to do, Jongin has a different purpose.

Already he is carrying a fairly large stack of books, ranging from romance novels to cooking booklets, but all have something in common—they all remind him of Kyungsoo.

When the librarian asks Jongin why he’s checking out so many books, he answers “because I love them,” and the elderly woman would smile until her cheeks become tinkled with pink because “it’s a delight to see such a handsome young man’s love of reading!” But Jongin’s love doesn’t come from reading the books; he loves them because they remind him of Kyungsoo, and Jongin loves Kyungsoo the most.

Whenever Kyungsoo’s face breaks out into a heart-shaped smile, his eyes softening and nose crinkling, Jongin’s insides would melt into a pile of goo. Jongin would carry thousands of books for Kyungsoo if it meant that he could see the smaller’s happiness forever.

11:00 am -

If anyone ever asks Kyungsoo what goes through his mind when he thinks of Jongin, his face would settle in a light smile, his eyes would grow wide--but not startled, more of a dreamy look--and his usually quiet self would become even more silent if possible, leaving the asker in an awkward state. 

From the curved lines of abstract art to ceramic ballet flats, from the scent of A&F cologne to the aroma of fried chicken, tearful rom-com movies, the 90’s bowling alley a few blocks away, tight leather pants, chocolate abs, sun-kissed skin, small poodles, nerd glasses, wind-swept hair, the sun shining on a snow-covered field, and green tea with a hint of honey, all these miscellaneous items were significant to Kyungsoo. But not everything reminded Kyungsoo of Jongin; only things with the same aura as the tan male.

\- 

Jongin on the other hand, when asked about Kyungsoo, would always break out into his breathtaking grin, his face so happy that it makes everything else in comparison dull. 

Warm, melted chocolate, smooth r&b, the cartoon character pororo, homemade banana bread, checkered aprons, the reflection of the moon on a tranquil lake, the scent of the pages of a new book, raw espresso coffee beans, penguin plushies, studio ghibli films, and lilac flowers…but most importantly, a warm bubbly sensation and a blood rush to his cheeks when his lips meet Kyungsoo’s soft ones.

12:00 pm - 

Jongin can't survive longer than four hours without seeing Kyungsoo’s appearance. When most of the other students dine in the lively food court, catching up with their friends and complaining about their lack of sleep, Jongin isolates himself by going to a quaint cafe in the outskirts of the university district.

It isn’t as though Jongin is friendless. In fact, he’s quite popular, especially among the females for his drop-dead gorgeous looks (and among the males as well). He could totally hang out with Sehun or Baekhyun and be completely fine, but Kyungsoo is a necessity. His one true love, but also his best friend who Jongin would gladly ditch anyone for. 

The barista already knows what Jongin wants; he orders the same meal every day and the cafe is alway prepared with an ice mocha, a chocolate croissant, and a fruit salad. The cafe door opens and closes multiple times as students and professors enter and leave, but Jongin remains seated at his one-person table, completely oblivious of the activity around him. 

Most days, he doesn’t even finish his lunch because he’s too busy video calling Kyungsoo. Even on the rare days where Kyungsoo does most of the talking, Jongin is entranced by the way Kyungsoo’s lips move and form words so fluently that Jongin forgets about the food altogether and is almost late to his first afternoon class.

1:00 pm - 

The orb of blinding fire is at its most blinding point of the day and the azure sky is scattered with thin white clouds. The weather seems to be calling for Kyungsoo to leave his task unfinished and to instead take a stroll around the company grounds. But as tempting as that is, returning home to Kim Jongin is forever more alluring, and so Kyungsoo clenches his fists and refocuses his attention on his task. 

Video calling isn’t enough to satisfy Kyungsoo’s desire. There’s something about Jongin’s physical presence, perhaps the aura, that is comforting to Kyungsoo and makes him feel at peace. 

A thin sheen of perspiration layers his forehead, his fingers are sore from typing endlessly on his laptop, his brain is tired from doing too many equations, and his eyes blurry from staring at the screen for so long, but Kyungsoo refuses to take anymore breaks. 

His co-workers view Kyungsoo as an efficient worker, constantly on task and always the first to finish his tasks. What information they are lacking is that being productive isn’t a natural part of his personality; the only reason why Kyungsoo is the quickest to finish with hardly any errors is because he needs to see Jongin in person as soon as possible. 

2:00 pm - 

To Jongin, his internal struggle is far more deadly than any world war ever fought, more majestic than any medieval battle, and more conflicting than any civil war. He’s his own country, fighting a mirror image, using tactics he can use against himself, all attacks harming his mental health. He’s both the knight in shining armor, holding his shield embedded with his family crest, riding a white stallion, and the force of black evil, drawing all goodness out of the souls of the innocent. 

In those battles, the good always dominates over the evil, because love is pure and jealousy is defiled, because one side is more determined than the other. But Jongin’s battle is neither a happy ending nor a tragedy. It’s only a painful, drawn out skirmish in which neither side is a winner nor a loser. 

But perhaps his struggle is not merely one-sided. Perhaps it’s a battle between himself and time, a battle in which even the strongest love cannot expedite the ending of his final class of the day. 

3:00 pm - 

The first car to exit the university parking lot, barely meeting the speed limits, is none other than Jongin’s ancient (but still functioning) toyota corolla 2000. He knows Kyungsoo won’t be returning home until 5:00, but even Kyungsoo’s lingering scent is better than nothing. 

Traffic is already painfully slow, and every minute that passes by, Jongin’s anxiety level increases by another 5 percent. He wishes that he has a siren, so that all the other cars would part for him like Moses parted the red sea in Exodus 14:21. 

The streets of the mobile map on Jongin’s phone are covered in red, indicating the severity of the traffic. His tapping on the steering wheel grows angrier by the second, and Jongin’s teeth constantly clench and unclench. 

He doesn’t stop to ponder the purpose of all the cars on the roads, because returning home to Kyungsoo is the only goal he has, he really couldn’t care less about the other drivers. Because Jongin is obsessed over everything Kyungsoo, over his appearance, taste, smell, feel, sound, from his soft, black hair to his dwarf-sized feet. It’s an addiction, an overdose, and Jongin knows that even if he dies because of Kyungsoo, he will never have enough. 

4:00 pm - 

The apartment is silent when Jongin steps in--not the eerie silence of discomfort, but a tranquil atmosphere where the familiarity of each room could only be home. 

Home is where all the china dishes are spotless and stacked behind mahogany cabinets, where flowers and succulents are placed in every room for decor, where the bed sheets are folded meticulously so that not one wrinkle can be seen, and where the bookshelves are filled with extraordinary titles of a random assortment. Home smells of a mix of Kyungsoo’s sweet vanilla and Jongin’s dark chocolate with musk. To Jongin, home is Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo is home, and Jongin could stay there forever. 

5:00 pm - 

Jongin hears Kyungsoo’s footsteps echoing in the hall. He’s never heard such lovely footsteps--light and careful, as if Kyungsoo’s afraid to disturb the neighbors. Before Kyungsoo can even take out his keys, Jongin nearly leaps out of his sitting position and eagerly flings open the door to find an exhausted Kyungsoo who looks ready to strangle anything that comes his way. Despite the irritable look that Kyungsoo gives Jongin, the taller wraps his arms around Kyungsoo and smothers the older with kisses. Kyungsoo doesn’t even flinch at Jongin’s enthusiasm; Jongin’s hyperactiveness has been at its high point these past few weeks. 

“You’re alive!” Jongin exclaims finally, pointing out the obvious. “I was so worried.”

“Of course I’m alive. What, you think a corpse can walk up three flights of stairs?” 

Jongin doesn’t utter another word, but deep inside, he’s still grateful for Kyungsoo’s safe return, because he knows that anything could happen, even losing his whole world compacted in a 172 centimeter male. 

6:00 pm - 

Jongin’s olfactory nerves are always satisfied by Kyungsoo’s palatable meals, but then again, everything about Kyungsoo pleases him. 

6 o’clock finds the two lovers sitting at the dining table, side-by-side, because Jongin insists that sitting across from each other because Jongin insists that “sitting across from each other will limit the chemistry.” While Jongin is animated as always, words flowing out of his mouth fluently, Kyungsoo neither interrupts nor heeds attention to his food. He’s still, with a dumb smile plastered on his face, the only part of him moving are his eyes that flicker from Jongin’s bright eyes to his unstoppable mouth and back again. 

6 o’clock is the best time of the day for them both. They're no longer separated, no longer needing to worry about their actual life. It's just the two of them and food at a dimly lit table, making the best of each other's company. 

7:00 pm - 

A virtuoso and a ballerino, smooth melodious runs and melisma harmonizing with elegant pirouettes and grand jetés. They're not only artists creating art, but art themselves. Their notes and dance steps are their paint on their canvas, and their emotion in everything they do is their texture. 

If Kyungsoo and Jongin were colors, Jongin would be fiery red and Kyungsoo would be a deep ocean blue, complete opposites, but together they would mix into the perfect shade of purple, with blacks and whites to give dimension. 

Jongin is the curved lines and enigmatic shadows, while Kyungsoo is three dimensional shapes that capture wondrous light. Together they're abstract, seemingly simple but in reality a plethora of creativity and complexity, irreplicable. 

8:00 pm - 

Their period of relief is truly ephemeral, for by 8 o’clock, they're already back to productivity.

This time, instead of an agonizing war between time and patience, it's a relaxing work hour so that the next day, their professors/managers wouldn't beat their asses flat.

Kyungsoo sits with his back against the bed frame with a laptop propped on his knees while Jongin lies on his stomach to annotate a history textbook.. Light conversations drift between them, and although they're literally about the randomest, most irrelevant topics, the talking never draws to a complete stop.

If every study session could be like this, Jongin wouldn't mind going to school every second of the day. 

/ skip one hour /

10:00 pm - 

Jongin loves watching movies. It could be any type--romance, comedy, horror, mystery, etc, but all are the same to him. They’re all the same because half the movie, he’s not even looking at the large TV screen, but at the certain someone next to him. Kyungsoo has more dimension than any 3-dimensional Imax movie, he’s more extraordinary than any Harry Potter, better looking than any shirtless lifeguard, and sweeter than any Augustus Waters.

Jongin is mesmerized by the way Kyungsoo’s expression fluctuates throughout different scenes, his eyes either bright with joy or shining with tears. The way Kyungsoo blinks a lot and is fidgety during romance scenes, the way his mouth opens to let out a silent scream during horror films, and how his eyes crinkle into delicate curves when he’s laughing mellifluously. 

They’re watching Spirited Away for the nth time, and they’ve reached the last ten minutes of the film. The heart-capturing cartoon is apparently heart-wrenching for Kyungsoo, whose emotions seem to multiply even when watching animated movies. Jongin can see tears welling up in Kyungsoo’s eyes. Slowly the crystal droplets flow down his pale cheeks, and all Jongin wants is to kiss those tears away, to rid Kyungsoo of any sadness, no matter how big or small.

11:00 pm - 

Jongin lowers his hips onto Kyungsoo and grinds slowly against the smaller, his warm breath fanning Kyungsoo’s neck, causing tingles to run down the latter’s spine.

Within moments, Jongin’s lips crash against Kyungsoo’s, and his tongue finds its way into Kyungsoo’s mouth. Instead of resisting him, Kyungsoo leans into Jongin, and with each moment, the kiss gets more passionate. Soon, Kyungsoo’s running his hands through Jongin’s dark hair and fumbling with the buttons on the taller’s shirt. Jongin breaks the kiss and laughs lightly at Kyungsoo before trailing butterfly kisses down the older’s neck and kissing his collarbone. 

Jongin’s lips graze the tip of Kyungsoo’s ear and his eyes, dark with lust, trail up and down Kyungsoo’s body once more before turning his attention back to Kyungsoo’s face. 

“Look at me,” Jongin whispers as he caresses Kyungsoo’s jaw and tilts it so that he’s looking straight into Kyungsoo’s eyes. “Let’s not continue. Let’s just...talk tonight.”

“About what?” Kyungsoo inquires, tracing his fingers on Jongin’s sharp jawline. 

“Anything. Life, politics, us, I don’t mind.”

“Sounds good.” Kyungsoo sighs and adjusts his position so that his head is resting on Jongin’s chest, becoming one with Jongin’s steady heartbeat. 

12:00 am - 

Their conversation eventually slows to a stop as Kyungsoo’s eyelids are weighed down by lethargy and consciousness seems too far away. Jongin so kindly lays Kyungsoo’s head on a pillow and covers him with a blanket. Only when Kyungsoo’s breathing becomes sedate and even does Jongin relax. 

1:00 am - 

On the nights that Jongin’s insomnia kicks in, he enjoys watching Kyungsoo sleep. Kyungsoo’s peaceful expression reassures Jongin, because when Kyungsoo’s asleep, he no longer has the day’s worries etched on his face. Jongin would gladly stay up a whole night to see Kyungsoo worriless. 

Jongin wishes that he could go back to the time when he and Kyungsoo first fell in love, to start over again, and Jongin would show Kyungsoo just how much love he could give. He wishes for more time, for eternity, so that Kyungsoo could receive all the love and more than his short stature could contain. Jongin knows that each day he lives yearning for Kyungsoo’s presence is the same, his daily schedule will never change. To others it might be tedious, but to Jongin, he would rather spend infinite days with Kyungsoo with little diversity than not with Kyungsoo at all. 

Because love is love, and in love, time has no rules.

End (kind of).

Now, reader. Jongin’s love for Kyungsoo is pure, so pure that it seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? No, it’s not impossible. You see, when someone finds their soulmate, and when he/she is absolutely sure of it, their love for each other is truly unconditional. They have this connection, this oneness with one another, that even mirrored neurons cannot explicate. But here’s the thing, is Jongin’s love for Kyungsoo engendered by being soulmates, or could there be something more? If you wish for the former, please stop reading. 

The thing is, it hasn’t always been like this. Jongin hasn’t always paid so much attention to Kyungsoo. He hasn’t always spent his whole day longing to see Kyungsoo, yearning to see Kyungsoo smiling. That is, not until recently. Recently, the only thing on his mind is Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo. Because of his devotion to the older, his daily routine has been identical for the past few weeks, always spending the days with Kyungsoo as if there would be no tomorrow. But Jongin doesn’t mind; he’d rather spend all his days the same way with Kyungsoo than not with Kyungsoo at all, because he knows that there really could be no tomorrow. 

It isn’t as though Jongin didn’t love Kyungsoo before; he’s loved Kyungsoo since...God knows when. Jongin wishes that he could go back to the time when he and Kyungsoo first fell in love, to start over again, and Jongin would show Kyungsoo just how much love he could give. He wishes for more time, for eternity, so that Kyungsoo could receive all the love and more than his short stature could contain. 

It hasn’t always been like this, hardly getting enough sleep and spending some nights wandering around until the sun is already on its way to break the darkness of the night sky. Of course he’s tired, and during the day he can only function by drinking several cups of highly caffeinated tea, but Jongin’s afraid that if he sleeps, the world would disappear before Jongin has loved Kyungsoo enough yet. 

He’s afraid. 

And so he hasn’t told Kyungsoo yet. 

Adenocar-something-in situ, apparently it’s an illness that “begins in the alveoli, can spread without destroying other tissues, and makes up 3% of lung cancer diagnose.” Jongin should’ve known earlier; several of his relatives had the same cancer, but Jongin thought that he would be the lucky one. He believed that he would be one of the miracles in which the inherited gene wouldn’t be expressed, and he would live life as it comes. 

It really is a battle of Willpower and Time, of Love and Death, of Kyungsoo and Disease, of his immune system and cancerous cells. More deadly than any world war ever fought, more majestic than any medieval battle, and more conflicting than any civil war. He’s fighting with himself; the cancer is a part of him, he’s his own disease. 

But this time, it’s not only a small combat in which his patience is running out because the Time’s hands are moving too slowly. It’s a full-out war, but the winner is obvious--Death has all the advantages, the wealth, the manpower, the technology. Time is the referee that determines when the battle will end, and all things good will come to an end.

This time, he wants the clock to slow down for him, to wait for Love to catch up in the race. But Jongin knows that Time won’t delay itself just for two lovers in which both will just end up in the hands of Death anyway. He’s been dying since birth, everyone has, each day closer to the impending doom, only God decided to make his story shorter than the others, and Kyungsoo just happens to be on the ride of the broken roller coaster headed straight for devastation. 

End


End file.
